Aircel

Aircel and BSNL to share network towers

October 14, 2009 By yogen Leave a Comment

This is a first of its kind deal between a public and private telecom company. Aircel is the first telecom operator to sign a passive infrastructure sharing agreement with the publically owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Mr Gurdeep Singh, COO, Aircel, said, “This is a historic moment for the company. Aircel will now have access to strategically located sites across BSNL’s 21 circles (excluding Mumbai & Delhi). Leveraging BSNL’s passive infrastructure will help Aircel meet its aggressive network roll out plans in addition to reducing operational cost.”

Mr Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, BSNL added, “We are happy to partner with Aircel. BSNL has a strong nationwide coverage and offers the best value proposition in the Indian telecom market. Our objective is to provide quality and reliable service and thereby increase our partner’s confidence”.

Aircel currently has approximately 32,000 network base stations across the country and post this partnership, it will also have access to BSNL’s 45,000 network towers across its 21 circles.

Aircel introduces an innovative VAS: ‘Talk-a-Mail’

October 13, 2009 By yogen Leave a Comment

aircel talk a mail

Aircel is one operator who definitely plans its value added services (VAS) seriously, and well even innovatively. Aircel recently added this new VAS called ‘Talk-a-Mail’ and as the name suggests, this service allows Aircel’s subscribers to compose their mails by making a call. Read on to know how to use this service.

Unlimited Dialer Tunes from Aircel

October 12, 2009 By yogen 2 Comments

Aircel Unlimited Dialer tunes

Aircel has announced the first of its kind Dialer Tune card which offers users the freedom to switch their dialer songs unlimited times, at no extra cost. These cards are available for both prepaid and postpaid users.

These cards are currently available in three denominations starting from as low as Rs 7 which comes with a validity of 7 days, Rs 31 valid for 31 days and Rs 240 which can be used for a year.

All Aircel prepaid and postpaid customers can recharge with this coupon by dialing the special IVR number 5300003 and entering the 16 digit secret PIN number. One can also recharge by sending SMS DTC <space> 16 digit PIN number to 5300003 (toll free). Call charges for using the IVR for song selection are Rs. 3 per minute. To unsubscribe SMS DT <space> unsub to 5300003 (toll free).

Add-On Packs for PostPaid by Aircel (Mumbai)

June 9, 2009 By Rohan Kamath 3 Comments

aircel

We brought you some cool plans Aircel has on offer for Mumbai users in our exclusive review of PostPaid Plans (Mumbai), and here is a follow up to that one with the add-on packs, which one can opt for along with the postpaid plans. The operator has managed to create a need for these packs by keeping SMS rates at Re.1 for all its plans.

Here are some of the packs you can choose from: [Read more…] about Add-On Packs for PostPaid by Aircel (Mumbai)

Aircel PostPaid Plans Reviewed (Mumbai)

June 8, 2009 By Rohan Kamath 8 Comments

We bring you an exclusive review of the postpaid plans on offer by Aircel for Mumbai users. Overall, we think the operator has introduced a good set of plans and here is each one of them broken down to the basics for you.

The operator has 4 plans in all, the basic differentiators being the usage of the user.

Aircel launches services in Delhi and NCR

March 21, 2009 By yogen Leave a Comment

Aircel becomes the seventh cellular operator in Delhi, NCR to offer postpaid and prepaid mobile services. Aircel is a joint venture between Malaysian based Maxis Communications and Apollo Hospital Enterprise and it now has its GSM presence in 13 telecom circles out of the total 23 telecom circles in India.

There are currently close to 20 million mobile subscribers in Delhi owned by Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular, MTNL and Vodafone Essar, yet considering the rapidly growing Indian telecom market, Aircel is very optimistic to get sufficient space in the Delhi, NCR telecom circuit.

The company is quite confident of getting a pan-India 3G license and is aggressively working on expansion. It has already allocated $1 billion for investment in current year. Its future plans include introducing the service in Mumbai as well as eastern and western parts of Uttar Pradesh, and the company claims it has already started working towards this next phase.

Aircel to pump in $5billion for expansion – enters Hyderabad!

March 14, 2009 By Rohan Kamath Leave a Comment

In an attempt to fuel its expansion plans and make its presence felt in the Telecom market, Aircel has planned to inject $5bn into its business. This announcement came along with the operators expansion into the Hyderabad circle. Aircel is currently a part of Malaysia-based Maxis Communications Bhd and has a subscriber base of 17mn users.

Here’s what Aircel has planned:

The operator plans to invest $10bn into its operations this year.
$5bn is expected to be diverted into its Hyderabad operations.
Aircel also plans to step foot in the northern belt – Delhi and UP as well as Maharashtra.
This will take the count to 18 circles by the end of next month.
The operator also has set optimistic goals of doubling its subscriber base by the end of the year.

We Say: The operator is being well backed by Maxis and has plans to expand in circles, which might help meet its objectives. Though doubling its user base might be difficult, it is never impossible. We can only wait and watch.

Aircel drops ISD calling rates to Singapore & Malaysia

October 24, 2008 By yogen Leave a Comment

Aircel has come up with new recharge coupons for its prepaid subscribers in Tamil Nadu (TN) and Chennai that reduces your rates for calls to Singapore and Malaysia.

On purchasing a recharge coupon worth Rs 96, Aircel subscribers can make calls to these two countries at Rs 3 per minute and on using the recharge coupon worth Rs 29 calls can be made at Rs 3.5 per minute. Both recharge coupons come with a month’s validity and choosing the right coupon completely depends on one’s usage. Aircel intends to target the significant Tamil population in these two countries by introducing such coupons.

ZTE is the official partner for Aircel’s expansion plan

October 15, 2008 By yogen Leave a Comment

China based Telecom infrastructure gear manufacturer and wireless solution provider ZTE has officially got hold of a $400 million contract from Aircel for expanding the latter’s GSM coverage in India. There were rumors earlier this week that Aircel, which is 74% owned by Malaysian based Maxis is considering a tie up with African telecom giant MTN.

As for ZTE, they consider India as the biggest telecom market after China. Along with this joint venture, they are also planning to launch their own handset brand by this year-end and are targeting 20% of their global handset sales form India.

MTN plans to enter India

October 14, 2008 By yogen 1 Comment

MTN, Africa’s largest telecom player, which was the acquisition target for both Bharti Airtel and RCom earlier this year is all set to challenge these Indian telecom biggies in their own backyard.

MTN is looking to enter India by partnering a full-fledged existing operator, though there is no fixed time for its entry. (If rumors are to be believed MTN plans partnering with Aircel) As for MTN, it offers services in 21 countries across Africa and Asia and is amongst the world’s top 10 telecom companies.